Photographer: Yuriko Nakao/Bloomberg Yen Drops as Global Bond Rout Deepens Before Jobs – 9 March, 2017
The rout in global government debt showed no sign of slowing as Treasuries headed for their longest slump in more than 40 years before Friday’s U.S. jobs report.
Australian 10-year bond yields extended their advance as rates on similar-dated Treasuries rose for a 10th day. That would be the longest streak since 1974. The yen fell past 115 per dollar, buoying Japanese stocks, as the dollar held gains. South Korea’s stock market and currency markets fluctuated as a court upheld the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye. Stocks in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore rose. Gold dipped below $1,200 per ounce and crude remained below $50 a barrel.
Friday’s American jobs report is the last major piece of economic data before the Federal Reserve meets next week, with markets poised for a rate increase. The ECB signaled it won’t add to stimulus as growth picks up. Still, there are signs the reflation trade sparked by Donald Trump’s election is weakening, with the selloff in oil rekindling concern that energy inflation won’t persist.
What’s ahead for markets:
- Official U.S. jobs data for February are due Friday. Employers probably added around 200,000 workers to payrolls, in line with the average over the past six months and a sign of steady growth, economists forecast.
- People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan speaks at the National People’s Congress on Friday.
Here are the main market moves:
Currencies
- The yen fell 0.2 percent to 115.22 per dollar as of 11:23 a.m. in Tokyo.
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index held this week’s 0.8 percent advance.
- All 16 major currencies are down this week versus the greenback, led by the real and the rand, which have both weakened more than 2 percent.
- South Korea’s won rose 0.2 percent. The ruling means that Park must immediately leave her palatial Blue House residence in Seoul.
Stocks
- The Topix index climbed 1.2 percent to the highest since December 2015.
- Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.6 percent, and New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 gained 0.5 percent.
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.2 percent and the Shanghai Composite Index slid 0.1 percent.
- Futures on the S&P 500 added 0.3 percent. The gauge advanced 0.1 percent on Thursday and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose the same.
Bonds
- The yield on the U.S. Treasury note due in a decade was up one basis point at 2.61 percent. It climbed five basis points Thursday to exceed the 2.6 percent mark that Bill Gross, the bond-market veteran at Janus Capital Management, said will signal the start of a bear market, should it hold on a weekly basis.
- The yield on Australian 10-year bonds rose four basis points to 2.97 percent.
Commodities
- WTI crude rebounded 1 percent to $49.77 per barrel after dropping on Thursday by 2 percent to its lowest close since Nov. 29.
- Gold traded at $1,199.50 per ounce, extending this week’s slide to 2.9 percent. The precious metal has been retreating from February’s highs as expectations for U.S. rate hikes dampens bullion’s appeal.
- Copper for three-month delivery rose 0.2 percent to $5,701 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange, snapping a six-day slide.
Source: Bloomberg